


Support and Protect

by LilacPrince



Category: Fire Emblem: If | Fire Emblem: Fates
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Character Death, Iago gets hit in the face, Resurrection, god I love writing angry Camilla
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-04
Updated: 2020-04-04
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:14:02
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,585
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23483656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LilacPrince/pseuds/LilacPrince
Summary: Her siblings always shielded her with raw force, with raised weapons as they charged onto the battlefield, eliminating any threat. Elise can't do that. But she has another way of supporting her siblings, a way she is good at. She works hard to heal them in any way possible. To make sure they stay alive. Yet somehow, the worst thing happens. And Elise is left with only one option.
Comments: 6
Kudos: 16





	Support and Protect

**Author's Note:**

> Beware the warnings!! 
> 
> More angst, cause I can only keep to fluff once every bluemoon. At least this one has a happy ending.

Healing had always been a big part of Elise. 

She was well aware of her position as the youngest. Her siblings and retainers sheltered her, protected her as best as they could against the horrors of war. Leo who teased, taught her chess, and happily showed off his latest spells to her. Camilla who smiled and bought her gifts, hugging her whenever she needed it. Xander, who gave her a small smile and petted her head when she did something that made him proud. The smiles, the jokes, the banter that covered up all the things they thought Elise didn't see. But she saw it. She saw the toll the fighting was taking on them all. It was in the bags under Xander's eyes after too little sleep and too much stress, in his constantly furrowed brow as he powered on, a leader for the army who could never allow his facade to slip. Camilla's tired sighs, the moments when she could barely even drag herself out of bed, dreading to face another day of bloodshed. Leo's cold face, completely void of emotions to anyone who didn't know him well enough to see past it, as he struggled through the hell that was their lives. How he struggled to live up to Xander's imposing image and reputation, to live up to their father's expectations, to devise strategies that would allow as many as possible to survive the endless streams of battles. Elise saw it all, but pretended she was blind to it. Because when they looked at her, when they smiled at her, she knew it to be genuine. They loved her dearly, and called her the light that Nohr needed. So Elise shone for them. She smiled until her cheeks hurt, she talked about happy things for hours to keep their minds off all the terrible things happening around them, she smoothed out every rough patch by insisting on them all being friendly with each other. Elise healed them constantly, even before she picked up her first staff. 

Being a healer was perfect for her. With a big smile and encouraging words she could heal both body and soul, and she could see a light in the eyes around her whenever she succeeded in her task. She helped them all, indirectly. She lessened Leo's burdens by being there, reducing the death toll by healing frantically in every battle. She was there next to Camilla whenever she needed a bright smile to help her keep going. She took away every ounce of pain Xander felt as soon as it was delivered, shielding him with her staff the way he shielded her from the enemies. While she was too small, too young, to help out the way they helped each other, and was always dependent on their protection, she still helped. She was there with them, keeping them alive. 

So when she saw Leo fall, his blonde hair a gloria around his head against all the black, Brynhildr's strong glow fading out as it fell from his hand, Elise didn't feel scared at first. Her first instinct was to heal, to protect, to help, and she rushed to his side, clutching her staff. It must have been a strong spell, that had hit him, because Leo still hadn't gotten up. It must have shook him up, maybe even given him a concussion, because he wasn't getting back up on his horse with gritted teeth like usual. Elise threw herself off her horse and dashed to her brother, incations already falling from her lips as the familiar green light on her staff lit up. This would hurt, she knew. Healing magic was painful when the wounds were big, deep, potentially fatal. It rushed the body's natural healing abilities, struck every nerve into action, and the magic surged through the veins. She had heard people compare it to torture, even though torture didn't end with a soothing touch from the magic, a silent apology for the pain. But it couldn't be helped. A few minutes of pain was better than an eternity slowly rotting away in a coffin. So Elise steeled herself for the screams she would hear from Leo's lips, positioned herself by the side, and directed her staff. 

The familiar light rushed out, sinking through Leo's armor, searching for the wounds. If she concentrated hard enough on the magic she could sometimes feel like it was her own hands that were on the wound. Her palms gliding over skin wet with blood, pulling the skin to close around wounds, arranging broken bones or pulling out the remains of well aimed arrows. Elise always got that feeling when she healed a fatal wound, especially one her siblings had received. She could feel her hands glide over Leo's skin, could feel her fingers dip into him to pull away the fatal magic, (thunder, her brother had been struck by thunder magic), could feel the scarring that was blossoming on his skin. She was so focused on mending what the spell had hit, shattering his breastplate, that she didn't notice at first that Leo wasn't breathing. She refocused her effort, put it into his lungs and heart, forcing them to work. Pushing on them to beat, to breathe, to do their job. She healed, and healed, gripping her staff so tightly she thought it would break, but she kept healing. She pushed, and pushed, and yet the heart remained still, his lungs vacant. Sweat formed on her forehead as she kept trying. She couldn't fail Leo. This was her job, the only job she could do, the only way for her to support them. She had to help him. She had to save him. She had to heal him. 

"Lady Elise..." 

She didn't hear the voice at first, too focused on the task at hand. She had her hands wrapped around Leo's heart, massaging it, doing it's job for it. It lay motionless in her hands, but it didn't matter. It just needed a head start, it needed help. It would soon kick in on it's own, it would soon start beating again. Leo was so stubborn. He refused to give up when they played chess, even when it was obvious Elise would win. He practised and practised spells so much Xander had warned him to not overdo it. He sat up late into the night going though strategies and books, to gather knowledge, to keep them all alive. He always pushed to make sure they all survived. Now it was Elise's turn to keep him alive, and nothing was going to stop her. 

"Lady Elise, I'm sorry..." The voice was back again, nagging, distracting her. It made her focus falter for a moment, and her hands lost their grip, put she put back the focus and could once again feel her fingers close around Leo's heart. One beat, that was all she wanted. One beat, so she knew he would be okay. It would beat, it had to. "There's nothing we can do... He's gone, milady." 

No. No, he wasn't. He was right there, right in front of her. She had her hands in him, held his life in her fingers, and if she let go he would disappear. But he wasn't gone yet. She would help him through this. No matter how long it took, she would keep healing, and healing, until Leo sat up in front of her. She could still do this, she could still push on. She could help him. She felt hands on her shoulders, but she shrugged them off, without taking her focus off Leo. Hands that tried to pull her away from him, even when she was so close to heal him. 

"It's no use, Lady Elise", the voice said, and Elise gritted her teeth. Her arms were trembling from the effort. For some reason her eyes stung with tears, like her body knew the voice was right even if her mind refused to listen. Like she was already in grief. But she wasn't. She wouldn't cry, wouldn’t grieve. It was just sweat running down in her eyes. There was no reason to cry, not yet. He was there, she could feel it, she just needed to keep going. To push on more. She could do this, she could do this! She could help, she could support. She could save him!

It was the scream that finally made Elise break. Because that was a scream that terrified her to the core, familiar and foreign on the same time. She knew that voice, knew it by heart, but she had never heard it like that. Had never heard the utter grief, pain, and anger in it. A voice that had always been smooth like velvet was now shards of broken glass, digging into the mind of everyone who heard it, inflicting the pain that was so vivid in it. Elise had heard Camilla say Leo's name so many times before, but she had never heard her scream it like that. She had never seen Camilla collapse by Leo's side, stroking his face, with tears running down her cheeks. Her purple hair a wild array around hair, her cheeks red from the dive she must have made on her wyvern when she saw her brother fall. Her voice broke down into sobs, as she cradled Leo's head, whispering his name. Leo didn't stir. His eyes remained closed, his lips pale and parted without a single breath being pulled between them, his hands still by his sides. Elise was still sitting on her knees by him, staff still in hand, but the green light has faded out. Her concentration was lost, her focus gone, and with it, the magic as well. But it didn't matter, did it? Leo was beyond any healing Elise could offer. She had been too late, it was over. He was gone. 

She hadn't been able to save him. 

She didn't sob. She didn't make a sound as the tears ran down her cheeks, blurring her vision. She wasn't aware of anything except Leo's motionless body and Camilla's sobbing. She didn't notice when Effie sat down beside her, gently hugging her with one arm. She didn't notice when Xander arrived, shocked into silence as he stared down at his little brother. She didn't notice when Niles collapsed there as well, a hand pressed against the wound on his side, his eye wide as it took in the sight of Leo's body. Odin wasn't even aware yet of his liege's death, wasn't even awake yet. He had passed out, and received the full attention of another healer. A healer that was better at their job than Elise. A healer that was actually able to save the ones they tried to save. The wooden staff creaked in her hands, protested against the pressure of her strong fingers, as the tears kept running down her cheeks. But perhaps... Perhaps it wasn't too late yet after all. 

"Effie", Elise said slowly, forcing her mouth to move. The action felt foreign, her mind disconnected from her body. She wasn't in control, her body moving on it's own as soon as the idea formed in her mind. Elise turned her head up to the knight that knelt by her. The tears down her cheeks ran freely but her voice was even as she spoke the words. No trembling, no uncertainty. Just resolve. "Bring Bifröst to me." 

Bifröst was a rare and powerful staff. It was akin to Siegfried or Brynhildr, except that it didn't choose it's user. One only had to be a skilled staff user to wield it, but it was almost impossible to find. Elise had been drawn to the staff from the moment she had set her eyes on it, even before she knew its name, even before she had realised the power that it held. It was strong, it was powerful, and it's rumoured abilities had been the stuff of legends, as Odin had said once when Elise had told him about it. It was incredibly rare. It felt like fate that it was in their possession now, when Elise needed it. A sign that she could still save Leo, that she could still protect him. If she was good enough at healing, if she was strong enough, if she was focused enough... She might still have a chance. Effie was quick to retrieve the staff for her. Camilla didn't seem like she had heard, still cradling Leoas she sobbed. Xander had his head turned away, a hand covering his mouth, still as a statue. Peri was hugging his arm, quietly offering her condolences and her support. Laslow was standing by him as well, a grim look on his face. Niles was the only one who looked up at her, watching her approach with the staff in her hands. His expression was unreadable, but he didn't make a single move to stop her as she moved closer with the staff clutched to her chest. 

Elise looked down at Leo, watching his blonde locks fall into his eyes. His collar was inside out, his armor a mess. The dark bags under his eyes from his late night devising a strategy. Brynhildr at his side, right by his hand. Slight traces of the scars that were forming from the lightning that entered his veins were visible under his collar. There was so much there that made Leo Leo. The traces of her older brother, how he had lived, how he had been. But everything important was gone. The smiles, both mocking and serene, that curved his lips. The glint in his eyes when he talked about a topic he was interested in, or when he conjured a flower that he gave to Elise. The annoyed huffs and sharp scoffs when they bantered, the panic on his face when Elise yelled for Xander that Leo was being mean to her. The way he relaxed when Camilla petted his hair. His cunning strategies, his intellect, how completely obvious he still was, too wrapped up in his own head, his own thoughts. It was all gone, erased from existence with a single spell. But if Bifröst was as powerful as the rumours said, if it lived up to the legends, then maybe... 

"What do you think you're doing?" a voice sneered, and Elise froze. She whipped her head to the side, her pigtails flying around her as she did. Camilla's sobs went quiet, a warning sign that only her siblings knew to fear. Xander remained motionless, not even looking up to the mage standing with his arms crossed. Iago looked with disdain down on the fallen prince before he turned his gaze to Elise again. Elise's heart began beating heavily in her chest. Her siblings had all protected her from Iago's company, but she knew enough about him that she could tell it was bad that he had showed up. His black, greasy hair swayed a little as he looked from Leo, to Elise, to Bifröst in her hands. 

"You're not going to use that", Iago said sharply, glaring at Elise like he could bully her into submission with nothing more than a look. Elise's hands trembled, not from fear, but from anger and grief. Tears were still running down her cheeks. Leo was dead, and Elise had a chance to save him. One last chance, a gamble, and now Iago thought he could stand there and say she wasn't allowed to even try? 

"Why not?!" she screamed at him, the anger, fear and grief coating her voice in a way it had never done before. "It's a staff! It's made for healing! If it can heal Leo then-" 

"The staff is far too valuable for that", Iago said, waving the notion away with a dismissive move of his hand. Elise's heart broke, her throat closing around a choked sob. The very idea that the staff was more valuable than a life was absurd to her, and to not be allowed to use it on her own brother? How could someone even be so cruel as to suggest that? "We shall not waste it on-" 

"Too valuable?" Camilla cut in, her voice cold and even. She still held her head bent down, her hair falling down over Leo's face and hiding her own. But Elise knew that voice, the way that Camilla put her weight on those words. The strained control as she gently put Leo back down on the ground, and stood up. It was a sign that it had gone too far, and it was terrifying enough to even give Iago pause. "The staff is too valuable?" Camilla turned her head towards Iago. Her eyes were red and puffy from crying so hard, but they were full of rage. A blazing sword of hard steel and hot fire. "Using it to heal Leo, my brother, would be a waste?" 

"Lady Camilla-" Iago began, probably trying to save himself from her rage. But it was far too late. Camilla stormed up to him and grabbed the front of his robes. She pulled him in close, lifting him off his heels as she stared him down. If Iago thought he could bully someone into submission with just a look, he had never experienced looking into Camilla's eyes when she was truly livid. Elise didn't dare open her mouth, too worried about what would happen if Camilla exploded. But she didn't have to worry about that. Iago had set her off enough, and his very face was enough for Camilla to explode. 

"My brother is dead!" she screamed in Iago's face, and for once he was stunned into silence. "He died for this country, he died so lowly maggots like you would survive! We have a chance at saving him, and you dare stay there and say that it would be a waste?! You would be dead if it wasn't for Leo! You would all be dead, because Leo has been pushing himself to the limit thinking up the strategies for Nohr, a task that you haven't found worthy of your time, royal tactician. You dare stand there and say that it would be a waste to use that staff on him?!" 

"The king-" Iago tried, but was cut off when the back of Camilla's hand collided with his cheek. His head whipped to his side, a small pathetic whine of pain escaping his lips at the pain and shock. Blood started trickling down, drawn from Camilla's gauntlets. As far as Elise knew, none of her siblings had ever hit Iago before. It was a line they couldn't cross. Iago was their father's trusted tactician, the only one who the king seemed to even consider worthy of his presence anymore. Iago was also known for twisting words and actions, and every word against him could be spun to a traitorous act against their king. As a princess Elise did outrank him, but Iago carried with him the shadow of the king, which gave him a power few wanted to challenge. So for Camilla to actually hit him... 

"Hang the king!" Camilla screamed, her face twisted with rage, crossing more and more lines for every word. "Hang Nohr! I will not allow anyone else that I love be ripped away from me! I will not allow Leo's blood to be shed for Nohr while cowards like you hide behind the cape of the king and try to pretend you're more powerful than his actual children. Leo was twice the mage you'll ever be, and you dare say it would be a waste to get him back if we could?! Leo has done more for Nohr than you have or ever will do you filthy, pathetic, worm!" 

"Lord Xander!" Iago called, turning his head to Xander instead, hoping from mercy from the one most dependent on their father. Where Camilla put her siblings before king and country, he hoped that Xander would fall to his manipulative tricks, that he could manage to get out of this matter alive. "Bifröst is too rare, too valuable, to be used without the king's permission! He will be very angry that we used it without consulting him first." 

Xander was standing with his head hanging down, a hand still over his mouth. He was still as a statue, not a tremble of his shoulders or a single sound betraying his feelings that Elise knew would be hiding under the facade. She knew Xander cared about them all a lot, but she also knew that he took their father's words very seriously. This was something Iago always would exploit as much as possible as he tried to push and manipulate Xander into the position he wanted. Elise's hands trembled as she looked at Xander with pleading eyes. 

"Xander, please..." she whispered, tears forming in her eyes yet again. Camilla was quiet, waiting, her explosive fire quiet. 

"Elise..." Xander whispered, and he glanced up to her. His hand fell from his mouth, and he looked straight at Elise. She had never seen Xander cry. It was a sign of weakness Xander didn't allow himself to show. It wasn't fitting of a crown prince to show such emotions or to be witnessed breaking. He had always struggled to live up the image of a crown prince, had always tried so hard to be the perfect heir. He had never allowed tears to fall, not even in front of Elise. So when he looked at her, his eyes red and puffy like Camilla's, with fresh streams of tear rushing down his cheeks, Elise was frozen to the spot. Xander was crying, the tears flowing down, neverending. He looked at Elise with something almost pleading, and Elise clutched the staff hard in her hands. His voice, normally so heavy and imposing, was no longer barely above a whisper, all he could muster in the grief that had taken him so. "Do it." 

It was all Elise needed and she swirled on her heel, lifting the staff. A powerful surge of light, something so familiar now up in extremes, a sensation she had never felt before. She had barely managed to aim the staff before it overtook her. When she focused clearly she could sometimes feel like her hands were doing the healing, like she was one with the magic. With Bifröst she wasn't one with the magic. She was overpowered by it. It surged through her, her veins bursting with the magic. She was nothing but a mere vessel, a guide that the magic used to orient itself, With every heartbeat it pushed through her, down to the tips of her fingers, and to Leo. She couldn't see anything, the light blinding her from within. She wasn't aware of anything outside the magic anymore. No sounds made it to her, no sensations against her skin made themselves known. The world had dissolved, wiped out by the powerful magic that pulsated in her, that had overtaken her whole being. She wasn't able to do anything more than guide, and plead. A mantra in her mind, the only thought that managed to stay with her, running around in circles inside her. A quiet pleading. Please. Please. Please. Please.

Crack.

It felt like her own spine broke. The one sound that made it into her mind, a shattering, splintering sound. It squeezed around her, a short warning before it was all drained out of her. The energy and the magic, the powerful beating in her veins, the blinding light. It was drained out of her, leaving in its wake an echoing emptiness. Ever so slowly the world shifted into place around her. Sounds that now made it back to her ears, a fog around her eyes that slowly cleared into people around her. Niles on his knees by Leo. Xander and Effie holding her, the weight of their arms pressing down on Elise's shoulders, a comfortable weight. A shield, grounding her through her return to the world. Iago, who now was sporting more bruises, lying in a heap a bit away. Camilla, once again cradling Leo in her arms, stroking his face slowly. In the wake of the blinding light the colours seemed washed out, grey and empty against the light, blurry and faded like a dream. A faint ringing was staying in her ears, persistent, but fading. It took a moment for Elise to regain composure enough to glance down to her hands, and to her horror see that the terrifying crack she had heard had been from Bifröst. The staff had snapped in half in her hands, the light dead, drained just like Elise. Panic surged through her, worry that she had done something wrong, that she hadn't been fit to wield the staff, that she had performed badly. That it hadn't worked, and that she had wasted a one of a kind staff for nothing more than crushed hope. 

A soft groan reached her ears, and when she looked down at Leo again, his eyes slowly fluttered open. His lips parted again, pulling air into his lungs. The life returned to his pale face, his fingers twitching as he returned to the world of the living. He didn't move from Camilla's arms, too exhausted and too sluggish to move just yet, as he tried to figure out what was going on. He glanced around himself, on the shocked faces around him, the tears that were drying on their faces. Niles' lips that slowly stretched out into a relieved grin. 

"Lord Leo..." he whispered, and Leo cocked an eyebrow. 

"What?" he asked. His voice was rough, sounding like he had swallowed a litre of sand and that his tongue had died. But he was talking. He was moving, he was seeing, he was speaking. He was there. He was with them. He was alive. A choked sob struggled out through Elise's throat, her eyes filling with tears once again as she looked at Leo. Her brother, her older brother, her dumb, mean, beloved older brother. Who didn't know how to dress himself, who teased her, who always acted like he knew everything. Who always smiled at Elise, who gave her flowers he had created himself with pride in his eyes, who taught her magic and spells. Leo, her brother. Who had protected her, had kept her safe, kept her alive. Who Elise had saved. 

"LEO!" she cried, tears of relief flowing down in streams down her face as she threw herself onto Leo. She didn't spare a second thought of the wounds that Leo still had, the ones she had only gotten halfway through healing before she had noticed he wasn't breathing. Instead she cried, burying her face in Leo's neck, clinging to him. Camilla hugged them both, crying her as well, whispering "my darlings" over and over again to them. Xander sat down on his knees by Elise, and wrapped his arms around all three of them. It wasn't often any of them received a hug from Xander, and the gesture combined with his crying sisters, shocked Leo into silence. Elise didn't care. She could explain later. Now all she wanted was to hold Leo tightly, to hear his beating heart, to know that he was alive. Leo, who always struggled to protect her, to shelter her, to keep her alive. Now it had been Elise's turn to protect, to shelter. To bring Leo back to life. 

She would always be there to heal them. Through any means necessary.

**Author's Note:**

> Bifröst's very existance is such prime angst material. I had to use it. 
> 
> Thank you for reading! Kudos and comments are highly apprecieated!


End file.
